I wasn’t planning on doing a Halloween themed drink, but after seeing some cool ones other people put out there, I guess I got inspired. These drinks usually fall into one of two camps. On one hand you have your dry ice and gory garnishes, and on the other there is the surprisingly large amount of classics that have Halloweenish names. I took the latter approach and used the Satan’s Whiskers as a starting point. Continue reading →

Captain of Industry

Stir ingredients with ice, strain into an ice filled rocks glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

Last weekend I listened to an episode of the Speakeasy podcast. The guest was Kara Newman, author of Shake, Stir, Sip. Her book consists solely of recipes where all the ingredients are used in equal parts (aside from bitters). From the two ingredient Martinez to the four ingredient Last Word and beyond, this is one of the most useful templates for the home bartender (or any bartender, really). I use it often, like in the Jagroni, Supersonic Parachute, Firepit, etc. After listening to this episode, I was inspired to work with this ratio again. Continue reading →

Arts & Sciences

Shake ingredients with ice, strain into a rocks glass filled with ice. Garnish with an apple fan.

Two years ago this past Tuesday, two of my good friends got married. We’ve been friends for almost 10 years, and shared many a drink at each other’s houses or out on the town. It wasn’t a huge surprise when they asked me to create a drink for their rehearsal dinner, despite the fact I hadn’t even started this blog yet. But it was a big responsibility, one that I was excited to take on.

Maxi’s Ward

Hey everyone, it’s Mixology Monday time! Doing the honors this month is the MxMo Grand Puba himself, Frederic Yarm. The theme he chose is Mashups, and you can read the full announcement post here. At the heart of it, according to Frederic, mashups are what happens when”you fuse two cocktails often (but not always) with overlapping ingredients.”

Offshore Wind

A few years ago I was at a beach Ultimate Frisbee tournament in Wildwood, NJ. After two days of games in the sand, the whole team went out to dinner. Most of us ordered beers, until one of my teammates shook things up and went with a Sea Breeze. His argument being that he was sick of beer after two+ days of drinking Modelo Especials on the beach and boardwalk. Apparently he made a good point, because almost everybody changed their orders to cocktails (mostly margaritas and G&Ts). Another teammate then ordered a Bay Breeze, and a heated debate ensued.

Brandt’s Billables

An interesting thing has happened since I started this blog. When I go to people’s homes for a get together, whether it’s just a few people or a large family gathering, I often become the defacto bartender (first world problems, amirite?). I mean, I get it, and I certainly don’t mind it. However, usually I end up working with unfamiliar inventories of varying sizes, and will resort to making things up on the fly. Continue reading →